Notes on ScopePort

I am planning to create a ScopePort screencast soon. I had no experience with screencasts when I started to work on that topic. This is why I encountered two main problems:

• How do I create the video?
• How do I add sound to that video?

The first problem was solved easily. I tried a few screen recorders and decided to use recordmydesktop. The main advantage of recordmydesktop is that it captures everything in a raw mode and encodes it when you stop recording. That makes it possible to record your screen without bigger speed problems. Everything looks pretty smooth and is usable for a screencast.

The second problem cost me a lot of Google searching. How can I add sound to that video? Here is the way I finally used:

First step: Capture the video

No Problem. I started recordmydesktop with the following parameters to capture only the first screen, with a fake cursor (the original one from KDE4 caused some problems) and with no sound. The sleep 3 before the execution of recordmydesktop gives me some time to close the shell and get ready to record.

sleep 3 && recordmydesktop -width 1680 -height 1050 -dummy-cursor black --no-sound

Second step: Convert the captured video to AVI

The file recordmydesktop creates is in a OGG format. That is usually fine but we require an AVI file to add the sound. I converted the OGG file to AVI with mencoder (Usually available in your favorite repository):

mencoder -idx screencast.ogg -ovc lavc -oac mp3lame -o screencast.avi

Third and last step: Add the audio

Now we can edit the video file with avidemux (also usually available in your repositories). Select “Audio” -> “Main Track”.

Now select a AC3, MP3 or WAV file that should be added as the main audio track. Press okay, select “File” -> “Save” -> “Save video” and you are done. That’s it.

I have been looking for a really clean and easy to use Twitter client for a long time. I recently tried out Gwibber and it seems like I found what I wanted: Gwibber is easy to use, fast and focuses on the important things.

You can tweet by using the little input box at the bottom. You get a little bubble notification at the bottom left of your screen if somebody you follow tweets. (This can be disabled.) Gwibber stays in your tray if close it.

How to install Gwibber on Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid

1. Create a file “/etc/apt/sources.list.d/gwibber.list” and add the Gwibber repository:

# File: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gwibber.list
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/gwibber-team/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/gwibber-team/ubuntu intrepid main

2. Update your local repository information cache and install Gwibber: (aptitude update, aptitude install gwibber)

3. Start Gwibber from your applications menu (Section “Internet”)

4. Add Gwibber to your GNOME autostart. This can be done in the GNOME session manager:

Gwibber also supports some other services that I did not try out:

• Digg
• Facebook
• Jaiku
• Pownce
• Flickr
• Identica

You can find out more on the Gwibber Launchpad site.